Bi-Weekly Update for 01/03/10 - End of year update!

[Kellina]

Bi-Weekly Update for 01/03/10

1) Update Overview (TOC):

• Kudos and Bug Points
• Steps to Reduce Lag on the Nova TC
• Moderator Practices
• Current OR News
• TC:Nova News
• Any other business
  

2) Body:

Kudos and Bug Points

Kudos points are a new method of rewarding helpful members of the community for their actions, not their number of posts. Many forum regulars will have already noticed the loss of user titles. From today, they will also notice that above threads, instead of the old post count and location, a Kudos count and lightsaber now prevail. As you gain Kudos Points, the lightsaber blade will activate and grow longer.
Kudos Points can be awarded by moderators whenever they feel a post or thread has been especially helpful. They are a fairly rare commodity, so value each point you receive! In the near future, you will be able to see which posts you have received a kudos point for and the reason behind it. Stay tuned for that feature in the new year.

Bug Points are a similar concept, only they pertain directly to bug reports on our bug tracker. QA staff who receive bug reports of an especially high standard will be able to award bug points to users as a reward. This feature is still in the works, and should also be complete during the new year.

We hope that these new methods will help new members especially recognise the leaders in the community and will also allow current posters to be rewarded for their positive actions, instead of just punished for their negative ones. Gone are the days of being judged by join date or post count; now it is about being quality posters and helpful members of the community!

---

Steps to Reduce Lag on the Nova TC

All TC:Nova testers will haven noticed over the last few weeks a severe reduction in movement lag, and the eradication of rubber band boxing...........

---

Moderating Practices

Forum Moderators are now taking the extra time to moderate individual posts instead of closing staying threads, as was suggested by a number of members in the last two months. We hope this will allow discussion for the many without being ruined by the few trouble makers. Note that people who continue to break the rules in moderated threads will risk infractions and warnings.

---

Current OR News

Although there has been little information on the progress of the OR, be rest assured that the developers have not been squandering their time playing 3D pong. Instead they have been focusing on the much anticipated Object Restructure and are making great headway.

Originally Posted by Ramsey

A lot of work has been done on all of the object classes in the hierarchy as planned (every object,items/buildings/ players etc), oru and TA have been rounding out the engine by fixing bugs after working for months on the improved IDL compiler, and kyle is back - he just finished up with his move to his new house. A lot of the major engine work seems to have been completed so devs are focusing on adding content back.

---

TC:Nova News
As of this update, GMs will no longer be enforcing the clone camping policy. We ask that you play nice and stay in the spirit of the game, however if you are being clone camped a GM will not be able to assist you.

---

Any other business
As the SWGEmu project is moving towards a more formal setting by becoming a registered Non-Profit Organisation, we are working on establishing a joint account for project funds. Not only will this allow better control over finances, it means that donators will be able to recieve tax deductions.

---

3) Staff Perspective ("Round Table")

Originally Posted by KroniK

Round table entry.

As some of you may have noticed I have been fairly inactive over the last couple of months. Luckily the semester is finally over and I can have some personal time to get reaquainted with SWGEmu and the community. Hope everyone has a great holiday. Merry Christmas.

KroniK

Originally Posted by Tovo

Round Table:

Hi guys, I would like to wish everyone a merry christmas and a happy new year. At the moment im just waiting on the OR like the rest of QA so we can get down and start our testing.

I hope everyone takes it easy over the holidays and doesn't drink too much jawa beer.

Originally Posted by Kellina

Roundtable:

Hello Fellow Community!
I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! And a happy New Year!!
I look forward to the new year, with all the upcoming updates like the finished OR among a few other things. We got some wicked stuff planned for all of you for the coming new year, so make sure you check the Event forums/Calendar regularly. Thanks for all you guys do with donations,testing,Being here.
Once again hope everyone has a great Christmas and wicked awesome New Year!
Kellina

Originally Posted by Licrei Lightwave

Round Table:

Happy Holidays everyone! Looking forward to a HUGE year in the emu!

Licrei

Originally Posted by Leodextrin

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The future is looking bright and I for one cannot wait to see what it brings.

Originally Posted by TAfirehawk

Happy Holidays to you and your family.

The SWGEmu Team and Community have made great progress the past 12 months. The outlook for 2010 is even better with the combined efforts of both the Community and Staff.

On the Quality Assurance Department side, we have been very slow with Nova focused on "play time". This is allowing us to catch our breath before the big OR push in 2010. For the OR we will be reseting Mantis (all old bug reports get moved to a sub-project for saving) as well as integrating TC-Forum logins there.

On the personal side, I am very excited about the upcoming Kudos and Bug Point systems on the forum for all of the outstanding people we have helping in the Community. Along with that we will be rolling out the Community Tester Team in full force for the OR (CTT guild on Nova). This will be non-Staff volunteers that have shown excellent bug-exploit finding and reporting abilities. This select group will have the benefit of working closer with Staff and helping test things before they hit Nova.

Originally Posted by Lorrianna

Merry Christmas from Singapore!!

2009 was an awesome year because of the scope of playability and and where things finished on TC Nova stability/capacity. Things looks bright for 2010 with the OR, Staff restructure of formalized policies coming along.

I second TAF's comments on QA and especially the incentives for non-Staff participation and recognition. The OR is going to challenge us but we'll be ready.

Best wishes to all and looking forward to things picking back up in Jan-Feb. Returning to the US on the 18th!!

Lorri

Originally Posted by DavinFelth

Hello it's me! Yes I'm still here! Things took a turn for the awesome for me recently IRL so I've just been lurking around and waiting to do stuff, but I thought I'd input to the Christmastime message and wish everyone a happy holidays and a fantastic new year! Playing SWGEmu is important but what's more important is spending time with your families at this special time of year (and then coming back to play SWGEmu when you need a break ).
See you soon!

Originally Posted by Thoop

I just want to thank the community and the other devs/staff for all of the progress over this past year. All of the people that volunteer, whether it be testing or staff, really help to keep this wonderful project alive. 2010 is going to be a great year!

Originally Posted by Rovalis

Round Table:
Hey everybody! Can't wait to see where we are at this time next year... Eat, drink, and play SWGEmu. Isn't that what it's all about? Merry Christmas! Take care and have a happy holiday season.

Originally Posted by odwill

Round Table:
Seasons Greetings! I want to thank our terrific community for sticking with us and your continued support of this project. 2010 is going to be a big year for us and I am looking forward to it!

Originally Posted by malthol

I'm still "on leave" from the QA team, after turning over the World Team to someone else several months ago. I hated to do it, but I'm trying to finish up a PhD in history before August. Also, I'm getting materials together to apply for a few professor positions for the 2010-2011 academic year. I'm also getting married in August. So, I've got 3 major projects keeping me busy before I can come back full-time. I'd appreciate any good vibes you all could send my way for the first two (the third one is all but perfect already!). Look forward to getting back in the swing of things here and reconnecting with the community once I'm not so overwhelmed.

Originally Posted by Dame

Hey all! We've had a great year at SWGEmu with some great accomplishments and we're excited to see what the next year has in store for us. I just recently returned from a little bit of a break so expect to see (or not see ) me around in game. Thanks for all the support you guys give. You are the reason we are still here! a

Originally Posted by Kyle

Things have been crazy this holiday season for a number of staff members, myself included. Over the last 2-3 months I have spent most of my time finding and closing on a house, moving, and working insane holiday hours at work. I hope to get back on the development wagon as a new years resolution! Happy Holidays to all, we are thankful for everything the community does to help with this project.

Originally Posted by webbwbb

This has been a crazy year for me. From starting a business to leading a large testing team, from finally starting school and then having an emergency surgery to resigning from that testing team because I really do not have enough time to do it well anymore. Many strange things have happened in my personal life and here that I really did not expect. In many ways it's been a great year, in some ways it has been a bad year as well. I look forward to seeing what the new year will bring, both personally and with my work here. Thank you all for sticking around and for your continued support.

Originally Posted by El'layn

Happy Holidays everyone! I wish you all the best to you and yours! I'm really blessed to have the opportunity to have met and continue to work with everyone here - staff and community alike
Will be seeing you back in Theed after the first of the year -- my family issues are calming down (yay!!) Thank you to everyone for being so supportive this past few weeks, and I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to come back ingame again.

Expect more fiction, more parties, and more hawtpants in 2010!

<3 El'layn

Originally Posted by vorta

Round Table:

Here is to the community and staff alike. It has been a great year and I am very much looking forward to what is to come. I will ensure that standards of quality to the game are being met. Here is to 2009 and looking forward to a hell of a 2010!!

---

4) Closing
This is just a small bi-weekly update, brought to you by the Staff. When Max returns from the festive period he will be bringing you a big juicy update on the finer details of the OR progression and many other things. Hopefully this will let you know we are all still here and listening to the community at every level and you haven't been forgotten. All the staff here have a good feeling about 2010 and with good cause... Stay tuned for updates from your usual representitive Mr. Max.

---